1 Florida Institute for the Advancement of Teaching © A program presented by Florida Atlantic Universitys College of Education Gregory F. Aloia, Ph.D. Dean and Professor 777 Glades Road Boca Raton, FL

2 Mission Florida Institute for the Advancement of Teaching (FIAT) © will provide practical, research-based, and scalable solutions for improving Floridas PK-20 educational system by recruiting, preparing, and retaining quality educators in sufficient numbers to meet the needs of Florida schools.

3 Expanding the Potential Teacher Pool Good FIT (First Introduction to Teaching) © Places college students into schools as Instructional Interns one day a week with model classroom teachers and principals who mentor the students during their introduction to teaching. Good FIT © is designed to work collaboratively with community colleges. Each Good FIT © student is paid a stipend. SMaRT (Substituting with Mentors and Realistic Teaching) © Places college juniors or seniors into schools as substitute teachers one to two days a week under the supervision of a university Master Mentor who supports the learning experiences of substitute teachers. Each SMaRT © student is paid a stipend. AIT (Accelerated Induction into Teaching) © Places highly qualified student teachers in their own classrooms for one semester as the instructor of record under the supervision of a university Master Mentor who works with the AIT © teacher every day. Each AIT © student is paid a stipend.

4 Continuous Teacher Induction Program Initial Recruitment Successful Teacher Pool Good FIT SMaRT AIT Ongoing Recruitment Real World Classroom Experience Mentor Support Undergraduate Coursework

5 Innovative Principles of FIAT © : Extensive hands-on professional experiences for prospective teachers from their freshmen year through the senior year. The maximum total Professional Experience Days for a student involved in the three projects is 270 (FIT © = 72, SMaRT © = 108, AIT © = 90) Continual and intensive mentoring (up to 1,000 hours of mentoring throughout their education training program). A student will experience as many as six to eight professional mentors who will serve as a professional network and built-in support system when the student is hired as a teacher. Direct support for students in the form of paid internships. A student could earn up to $16,000 in their four years in the program. The opportunity to reinvest millions of existing public dollars into training and development of teachers. For example the dollars spent on substitute teachers is now being invested in teacher development. Significant recruitment of underrepresented students into teaching, who will be supported with a stipend, provided realistic internships and mentored by professional educators.